Maize farmers are smiling

FARMERS in Namibia’s maize triangle have reason to smile again.

After last year’s disastrous harvest, they are on course to bring in a bumper crop by the middle of this year. Blessed rain returned to the triangle – the area between Otavi, Grootfontein and Tsumeb where most of Namibia’s large-scale dry-land maize farming is done – this past weekend.With rains falling from Saturday onwards, most maize fields were thoroughly drenched – delivering welcome relief to fields that had already shown promise this year but were in need of follow-up rains just about now.The Meteorological Service reported yesterday that over 94 millimetres of rain had been measured at Grootfontein since Saturday.Rainfall figures from Otavi and Tsumeb, which have also experienced downpours since Saturday, had not reached the Weather Bureau in Windhoek by yesterday.But Tsumeb residents reported that some 40 mm had been measured at the town from Saturday to early yesterday.Farms between Tsumeb and Grootfontein recorded measurements ranging around the 70-mm mark.From Otavi, it was reported that about 16 mm of rain had fallen on Saturday.One of the farmers whose land has benefited from good rains is Casper Oosthuizen, the Chairman of the Grootfontein Farmers Association.He farms with maize and Angus stud cattle at the farm Poolmanskloof in the Otjihenena Valley between Grootfontein and Otavi.Oosthuizen said on Monday that he was expecting a good maize harvest this year – perhaps even the best in 35 years of farming.After a disastrous harvest last year, he planted some 150 hectares of maize this year – about the average size of field for the area’s dry-land maize farmer this year.With high capital costs and unpredictable rainfall patterns, sowing is always a gamble.But this year, Oosthuizen’s efforts – and those of other farmers in the area – appear ready to pay dividends.Oosthuizen’s fields boast corn plants reaching two metres and more, each carrying anything from two or three to seven or eight fat cobs.This year some 5 500 hectares of land have been planted with maize in the triangle and in other nearby dry-land corn farming areas in the Abenab area, north of Grootfontein, Oosthuizen said.At an average yield of between two and 2,5 tons of maize per hectare in a year of decent rainfall – as appeared likely this season – the area could produce a harvest of up to 13 750 tons this year.However, Christof Brock, Chief Executive Officer of the Namibian Agronomic Board, on Tuesday estimated that between 7 500 and 8 000 hectares of land had been planted with mealies in the dry-land crop production areas this year.By his estimates, the dry-land maize farmers could produce about 20 000 tons of maize this year.That was an above-average harvest, Brock explained.He said Namibia needed about 185 000 tons of mahangu (millet) and maize each year.The country’s mealie crop needs would depend on the size of the mahangu crop, Brock added.This year, he expected the mahangu harvest to total some 80 000 tons – but this was a conservative estimate, which could still be surpassed, he said.With a dry-land maize harvest of 20 000 tons, a harvest of another 20 000 tons of mealies from fields cultivated under irrigation and a mahangu harvest of at least 80 000 tons expected, Namibia will be able to cover some 65 per cent of its mahangu and mealie needs for the year, Brock estimated.The size of the triangle’s harvest would, however, only become clear in about four to six weeks, Oosthuizen explained.Until then, the vagaries of nature – such as flooding rains or storm-strength winds – could still take their toll, he cautioned.But, for now at least, with fields of well-watered maize still bursting with growth, the outlook looks rosy.Blessed rain returned to the triangle – the area between Otavi, Grootfontein and Tsumeb where most of Namibia’s large-scale dry-land maize farming is done – this past weekend.With rains falling from Saturday onwards, most maize fields were thoroughly drenched – delivering welcome relief to fields that had already shown promise this year but were in need of follow-up rains just about now.The Meteorological Service reported yesterday that over 94 millimetres of rain had been measured at Grootfontein since Saturday.Rainfall figures from Otavi and Tsumeb, which have also experienced downpours since Saturday, had not reached the Weather Bureau in Windhoek by yesterday.But Tsumeb residents reported that some 40 mm had been measured at the town from Saturday to early yesterday.Farms between Tsumeb and Grootfontein recorded measurements ranging around the 70-mm mark.From Otavi, it was reported that about 16 mm of rain had fallen on Saturday.One of the farmers whose land has benefited from good rains is Casper Oosthuizen, the Chairman of the Grootfontein Farmers Association.He farms with maize and Angus stud cattle at the farm Poolmanskloof in the Otjihenena Valley between Grootfontein and Otavi.Oosthuizen said on Monday that he was expecting a good maize harvest this year – perhaps even the best in 35 years of farming.After a disastrous harvest last year, he planted some 150 hectares of maize this year – about the average size of field for the area’s dry-land maize farmer this year.With high capital costs and unpredictable rainfall patterns, sowing is always a gamble.But this year, Oosthuizen’s efforts – and those of other farmers in the area – appear ready to pay dividends.Oosthuizen’s fields boast corn plants reaching two metres and more, each carrying anything from two or three to seven or eight fat cobs.This year some 5 500 hectares of land have been planted with maize in the triangle and in other nearby dry-land corn farming areas in the Abenab area, north of Grootfontein, Oosthuizen said.At an average yield of between two and 2,5 tons of maize per hectare in a year of decent rainfall – as appeared likely this season – the area could produce a harvest of up to 13 750 tons this year.However, Christof Brock, Chief Executive Officer of the Namibian Agronomic Board, on Tuesday estimated that between 7 500 and 8 000 hectares of land had been planted with mealies in the dry-land crop production areas this year.By his estimates, the dry-land maize farmers could produce about 20 000 tons of maize this year.That was an above-average harvest, Brock explained.He said Namibia needed about 185 000 tons of mahangu (millet) and maize each year.The country’s mealie crop needs would depend on the size of the mahangu crop, Brock added.This year, he expected the mahangu harvest to total some 80 000 tons – but this was a conservative estimate, which could still be surpassed, he said.With a dry-land maize harvest of 20 000 tons, a harvest of another 20 000 tons of mealies from fields cultivated under irrigation and a mahangu harvest of at least 80 000 tons expected, Namibia will be able to cover some 65 per cent of its mahangu and mealie needs for the year, Brock estimated.The size of the triangle’s harvest would, however, only become clear in about four to six weeks, Oosthuizen explained.Until then, the vagaries of nature – such as flooding rains or storm-strength winds – could still take their toll, he cautioned.But, for now at least, with fields of well-watered maize still bursting with growth, the outlook looks rosy.